Page 103 of Secrets & Curses of Crimson

“Cassius,” she finally answered back.

“What’s wrong?” I took a step toward her, but she held up her hand to stop me.

She shook her head as tears fell silently. "I can't tell you."

“You can tell me anything." I tried again.

"I love you." She frowned as if it were the last time we'd see each other.

Before I could respond, she summoned my shadows and wrapped them around her. When they disappeared, she was gone. I wasn’t letting this go. I walked close to her camp, determined to go into her tent to confront her, buta commotion startled me as I rounded the corner. Fucking great.

“What are you doing here?” Thea glared at her father and Jesper.

She didn’t know that they had called a meeting with Crimson. Why would they lie to her about it? They looked so out of place in her base camp. Their clothes were clean and pristine. Thea was covered in dirt and leaves from me.

“Why are you so filthy?” Jesper asked.

Thea ignored him, and I saw him clench his jaw at her blatant disrespect.

“We came to see how it was going.” Her father glanced around as if he expected to see me sitting in camp with her.

“Why? You could get hurt out here.” She didn’t sound worried. Thea was pissed off.

Jesper scoffed and narrowed his eyes at her.

“You’d probably like that,” he snapped.

“You didn’t come out here for that, so what the hell do you want?” she demanded.

Jesper sneered toward her before Luren glared him down.

“Has Cassius made an appearance?” Luren asked.

“Ofcourse not.”

“Why were you in the woods when we got here?” Jesper stepped forward, and my shadows readied to fuck him up if she tried to hurt her.

“Scouting.” She crossed her arms. Glancing over Jesper’s shoulder, she stared straight at me. She gave me a small frown.

“It’s what you do in a war, Jesper. You go into the woods and look for danger,” she spoke to him like he was an idiot.

“Did you see anyone that shouldn’t be here?” Luren's question made me smile. She glanced at me and gave me a small smile.

“Yes,” she sighed. My heart raced thinking she was about to tell them about me. They both perked up. “Both of you. There is no reason for you two to be here. So, what is going on?”

I sighed, relieved.

“We got word that Cassius was planning on attacking you and killing you. We thought we would check.”

These bastards.

“You two thought you would protect me from Cassius?” She laughed. “You are just a distraction to me and my men. I will not spare men to protect you while you lurk around.”

"Well, too fucking bad. We were staying to make sure you’re doing what you should be.” Her father glared.

“Be my guest. Don’t cry to me if we get attacked and you get wounded.”

They ignored her and walked to the carriages they came in. My eyes were focused on Thea. I couldn’t feel her through the bond again. I didn’t want to leave her by herself with these two. Especially since they didn’t tell her we were meeting tomorrow.

---